uished son Muhammad-Mustafa, and
_Sh_ay_kh_ Salih, and these were mounted. It was _Sh_ay_kh_ Muhammad who
defrayed the expenses of the journey.

When they reached Kirman_sh_ah the women alighted at one house, the men at
another, and the inhabitants arrived in a continuous stream to seek
information as to the new Faith. Here as elsewhere the 'ulamas were soon
in a state of frenzy and they commanded that the newcomers be expelled. As
a result the kad-_kh_uda or chief officer of that quarter, with a band of
people, laid siege to the house where Tahirih was, and sacked it. Then
they placed Tahirih and her companions in an uncovered howdah and carried
them from the town to an open field, where they put the captives out. The
drivers then took their animals and returned to the city. The victims were
left on the bare ground, with no food, no shelter, and no means of
traveling on.

Tahirih at once wrote a letter to the prince of that territory, in which
she told him: "O thou just Governor! We were guests in your city. Is this
the way you treat your guests?" When her letter was brought to the
Governor of Kirman_sh_ah he said: "I knew nothing of this injustice. This
mischief was kindled by the divines." He immediately commanded the
kad-_kh_uda to return all the travelers' belongings. That official duly
surrendered the stolen goods, the drivers with their animals came back out
of the city, the travelers took their places and resumed the journey.

They arrived in Hamadan and here their stay was a happy one. The most
illustrious ladies of that city, even the princesses, would come to visit,
seeking the benefits of Tahirih's teaching. In Hamadan she dismissed a
part of her escort and sent them back to Ba_gh_dad, while she brought some
of them, including _Sh_amsu'd-Duha and _Sh_ay_kh_-Salih, along with her to
Qazvin.

As they traveled, some riders advanced to meet them, kinsmen of Tahirih's
from Qazvin, and they wished to lead her away alone, unescorted by the
others, to her father's house. Tahirih refused, saying: "These are in my
company." In this way they entered Qazvin. Tahirih proceeded to her
father's house, while the Arabs who had formed her escort alighted at a
caravanserai. Tahirih soon left her father and went to live with her
brother, and there the great ladies of the city would come to visit her;
all this until the murder of Mulla Taqi,(124) when every Babi in Qazvin
was taken prisoner. Some were sent to Tihran and then